Superintendent Challenge Winner- School District Nutrition Policy Healthy Eating Bright Idea (Submitted on July 29, 2004)
What did they want to do? SFUSD's Board of Education resolved to rid the schools of soda and junk food begining with the 2003-04 school year.A district nutrition and physical activity committee was formed. A successful pilot program was started in a middle school where students were surveyed to determine the preferred choices of healthy foods. Policies were developed and approved in the summer of 2003.
Who took action? SFUSD’s Board of Education resolved to rid the schools of soda and junk food beginning with the 2003-04 school year in January 2003. A district student nutrition and physical activity committee was formed. It comprised district staff, teachers, parents, students and community members from the Department of Health, Parks and Recreation Department, doctors from UCSF and nutritionists. Subcommittees were set up to address issues like school meals, food sales (vending and fundraising) and physical activities. A successful pilot program began at the Aptos Middle School in January 2003 where the students were surveyed to determine the preferred choices of healthy foods. The subcommittee suggested policies to the full committee, which were merged into a final document that was sent for Superintendent Dr Arlene Ackerman’s approval in summer 2003. The authorized policy brought the Aptos nutrition standard to every school in the District by the start of the 2003-2004 school year.
Where did this happen? San Francisco Unified School District - school
Demographics
57,805
59.8% of the students qualify for free/reduced price lunch.
Chinese 30%; Latino 21%; AA 15%; other non-white 12%; other white 10%; Filipino 6%
English language learners 28.9%
Academic Year Implemented 2003-2004 Academic Year
Why did they want to do it? The Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is committed to the health and wellbeing of all students in the district. The program was part of the actions taken to curb the trends of increasing childhood obesity and decreasing physical activity. SFUSD aimed to provide the students with the most healthy and appealing food choices and to diminish the dependence of schools and school-related organizations on selling products of questionable nutritional value. The committee phased out the sale of sodas and unhealthy snacks by the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year and is now suggesting ways to replace revenues currently secured through the sale of these items. The program also includes plans to expand and improve opportunities for physical activity in the schools.
Background
How did they accomplish their goal? The steps taken affected the following groups:
Fundraising events:
Limits are placed on the types of foods parents can sell and depending on age groups, when such sales can be held. Parents are strongly urged to offer fresh fruit and bottled water for sale. The focus has shifted towards non-food based fundraising.
Teachers:
Teachers are asked to model good eating habits and not to use candy and other non-nutritious food as a reward.
Administrators:
Administrators are requested to model healthy nutrition and to refrain from serving non-nutritious food at their own meetings. They are also responsible for making sure the rules governing vending machines are enforced.
Nutrition education:
This was provided for Student Nutrition Services staff.
Students:
Student surveys were carried out to determine student meal preferences and the offering of such meals were increased by 40% to 2 days a week.
Nutritive value of foods:
More fresh fruits and vegetables,especially California-grown produce were served. The feasibility of salad bars was also explored. All a la carte,snack shop and vending machines’ food must meet standards for fat,saturated fat and sugar content,and contain at leat 5% RDI of 8 essential nutrients; beverages must be water,low fat or nonfat milk,100% fruit juice or carbonated water with no added sweetener. Portion sizes were specified and applied to most of the all food sold at anytime. The district maintains a list of approved food and beverages that can be sold.
SFUSD collaborated with the California Nutrition Network to establish the Nutrition Education Project in 14 elementary schools. The Project LEAN curriculum was also piloted at the high school level. A “Buy California” campaign was piloted beginning March 1st at 2 high schools to request that the mutual produce vendor prioritize California grown and pesticide free produce.
What were their results? Despite skeptics’ predictions about the results of the pilot program at Aptos Middle School, it was successful. Aptos turned a formerly money-losing cafeteria operation into a money maker by the end of the year.When the polciy was implemented districtwide, results also included reduced litter on the yard and improved student behavior after lunch. For instance, Balboa High School implemented the full policy at the start of the 2003-04 school year, and student behavior improved by the semester’s end. In fact, the suspension rate for the first semester of the year dropped to half that of the prior year’s comparable period. The school principal credited the removal of junk food as one of two reasons for the drop.
Overall, the nutritive value of the foods available to students in school improved significantly. Students were taken on field trips to farmer’s markets and farmers have brought their produce directly to the schools to do taste testing of locally grown produce.
What are their future plans? The policy committee meets monthly to monitor implementation of the policy, fine-tune the details and work to add the physical activity component. The Physical Activity Subcommittee’s extensive recommendations can be incorporated as soon as funding becomes available as a result of the proposition at the San Francisco March 2 ballot.
Other tasks for the 2004-05 school year include setting limits on sodium content, focusing on more nutrition education for parents and students, piloting a salad bar at selected schools and networking with other school districts to promote better nutrition in schools. SFUSD will amend and update its nutrition policy twice a year.
SFUSD is on the lookout for new products to approve for sale which meets the district's nutrition standard. SFUSD publishes the most recent version of the nutrition policy and list of approved products for sale on its website: http://sfusd_foods.tripod.com/ for those interested.
For More Information Contact Dana Woldow ( Co-chair, SFUSD Student Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee) San Francisco Unified School District 555 Franklin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 United States
